Design, Formulation and Physicochemical Evaluation of Clotrimazole Chewing Gum

Background: Oral candidiasis is widespread in the patients with immunodeficiency diseases. Chewing gums are considered as mobile drug delivery systems that affected locally or systemically via the oral cavity. This study aimed to develop and evaluate the formulation of clotrimazole chewing gums for patients having oral candidiasis. Materials and Methods: Fourteen formulations (F) were designed by Design-Expert, version 7. These formulations were different in the amount of gum bases and sweeteners. Gum bases of elvasti, 487, stick, and fruit C were heated up to 70°C. Clotrimazole powder, sugar, liquid glucose, glycerin, mannitol, xylitol, and maltitol as well as different flavoring agents were added to the gum bases at 40°C. Content and weight uniformity, organoleptic properties evaluation, releasing the active ingredient in the phosphate buffer pH, 6.8, and taste evaluation were analyzed by Latin square analysis. Also, the mechanical test was done on F13 and F14 formulations. Results: F14 was the best formulation in terms of organoleptic properties. This formulation had suitable size, hardness, softness, and lack of adhesion to teeth. F14 formulation released 89% and 97% of clotrimazole after 30 and 45 minutes, respectively. F14 content uniformity and weight variations were 9.83±0.086 mg and 1.14±0.09 g, respectively. F14 evaluation of mechanical properties showed Young’s modulus about 0.32 MPa, and yield point occurred at the stress of 0.599 MPa and strain of 4.1%. Conclusion: F14 was chosen according to its physicochemical and organoleptic properties. F14 had adequate hardness, lack of adhesion to the teeth, suitable size, and best drug release. Tutti Frutti was a proper flavoring agent for clotrimazole gum formulations.[GMJ.2021;10:e1084]

Analysis on the Factors Influencing the Behavior of Purchasing Enterprise Brand Fruits: Empirical Study Based on 312 Consumers in China

Based on summarizing the factors that influence consumers’ purchasing of fruits and vegetables, by establishing the theoretical framework that describes the factors influencing the behavior of purchasing enterprise brand fruits, designing the questionnaire, collecting data, and analyzing the data of 312 consumers by binary logistic regression, this article finds that there are mainly 6 factors influencing the behavior of purchasing enterprise brand fruits, namely, gender, the convenience of purchase, taste, evaluation after tasting, tasted or not, and whether relatives or friends buy. Among them, the first four factors have a positive effect, while the last two have a negative effect. The biggest influential factor is whether relatives or friends buy, followed by tasted or not, the third is an evaluation after tasting, and the fourth is the convenience of purchase. Taste and gender are, respectively, ranked fifth and sixth. Based on the above conclusions, this article puts forward some countermeasures and suggestions, which can be listed as follows: to expand the marketing channels of enterprise brand fruits, to improve the convenience of purchase, to improve the quality of enterprise brand fruits, to pay attention to the improvement of taste, to give full play to the publicity role of the government and enterprises, and to improve the popularity of enterprise brand fruits.

Consumer intentions to buy nutrient-rich precooked bean snacks: Does sensory evaluation matter?

Precooked bean products have the potential of bridging the common bean demand and consumption gap in Kenya. However, sensory evaluation of novel precooked processed products has been inadequate in determining acceptability. This study assessed the sensory evaluation of precooked bean snacks by 269 rural consumers in Machakos County of Kenya. Descriptive results indicated that less than one-quarter (22%) of the consumers were aware of the precooked bean products. The low awareness is a disconnect from the expectations that farming households were probably going to be aware of processed bean products because of their participation in bean value chain. Sensory evaluation showed that 75% of the consumers evaluated the freshness of the bean snacks positively, with about 90% and 63% of them positively assessing the taste of the precooked bean snacks branded Keroma Delicious and Keroma Fruity, respectively. The taste evaluation of Keroma Fruity brand significantly differed depending on age and level of education of the consumer. Similarly,the taste of Keroma Delicious brand also significantly differed by age and educational attainment of consumers. Furthermore, while consumers liked the taste parameters of the products, less than half of them liked the beany flavour of the two products. Results from the binary logit regression model indicated that freshness, sourness, and flavour positively and significantly predicted the probability of future purchases of Keroma Fruity bean snack brands. Consumer intentions to buy Keroma Delicious brand were positively predicted by flavour and marginally by sweetness. To accelerate the consumption of precooked bean products, product development and marketing strategies should recognise the role of sensory attributes in driving acceptability of the bean snacks, deploy processing technologies that retain and enhance sensory attributes, create awareness of the products, and segment the market from a gender lens in order to satisfy the diverse consumer needs and preferences.

Formulation and Taste Masking of Metronidazole Oral Disintegrating Tablets by a Novel Approach

The anti-protozoal drug, metronidazole, is developed as an oral disintegrating tablet (ODT) to treat amoebiasis and to bypass hepatic metabolism. The work aimed to prepare, taste-masking oral disintegrating tablets of metronidazole using different proportions of the drug and disintegrants in various ratios by an effervescent method. The ODT was developed by direct compression with various concentrations of super disintegrating agents (1-7%). In this technique, sodium bicarbonate and tartaric acid were used to generate effervescence. The formulated tablets were assessed for physicochemical characteristics. The results of FTIR spectroscopy indicated the stable character of metronidazole. In vitro studies revealed that batch F6 was having a 97.65% cumulative amount of drug release at 20th minute compared to other formulations. Due to the effervescent method, there was a significant increase in drug release, seen at the 1:1.5 ratio. Taste evaluation studies were conducted on healthy human volunteers.

Promising sweet cherry varieties breed in I. V. Michurin Federal Scientific Center

On the basis of integrated assessment, sweet cherry varieties Yantarnaya Savel’yeva, Mulatka and Lika, characterized by relative winter resistance, complex resistance to moniliosis and coccomicosis, were revealed. The given varieties are promising for commercial use in the southern part of the Central chernozem region. The degree of freezing of wood and vegetative buds after artificial freezing at –35 °C (II component) did not exceed 2.3 points and 1.6 points, respectively. In the field conditions, the degree of damage of these varieties to monilial burn was no more than 0.3 points, to coccomycosis it was 0.7 points, to monilial fruit rot it was 1.3 points. The yielding capacity of these varieties varied from 6.01 to 7.12 t/ha depending on the variety, which amounted to 123.7-146.5 % of the control. Variety were characterized by high commodity-consumer qualities of fruits. The average fruit weight was 5.1-7.1 g, and the overall taste evaluation was 4.6-4.8 points.